Rope halyard to shackle splice.

[Sealife74]

Hi guys,

Wondering the best way to go with a main halyard splice.

Thinking of using spectra 10 mm and eye splicing a shackle permanently onto rope.

Thoughts please , how do you rig your rope halyards ?

I will probably do headsail halyards while I’m at it.

Thank you.

[admiralslater]

If you are using fancy rope ,consider something called the dogbone . Not sure if it is appropriate and probably can’t be used with a traditional headboard due to chafe

[OZwingle]

I splice the halyard directly on to the shackle; captive screw pin shackle for the main and large bail snap shackles for the head sails - jib, staysail, spinnaker.

In my opinion, the halyard to shackle connection should be as reliable as possible. An eye splice directly to the shackle achieves that goal. Knots reduce the rope strength a lot, especially the new hi-mod fibers. Why buy spectra and then throw away most of the strength in a knot? About 50-70% loss, varying on which test regime was used. Dog-bones and soft shackles are cool, but are designed to be undone. Ask: Under what circumstances would a failure be acceptable? Not late at night. Not in a gale. Not at the top of the mast. Ask: How often would you want or need to change the halyard or the shackle? Not often if both are sized correctly for the sail(s). Maybe every 6-9 years?

On Velic, two halyards are New England Ropes Sta-set X, and two are NER Endura (a hi-tech spectra core with polyester cover). These require different splicing techniques, but that is a skill well worth developing. Just practice a few times before splicing the halyard itself.

Good luck and have fun.

[Paul L]

Since you use dyneema line on a halyard to reduce stretch, not for absolute strength, a halyard hitch should be fine.
For a shackle I usually splice a loop and then luggage tag it to the shackle, making it easily removal.

[admiralslater]

I have never had a soft shackle come loose and several boats in our club use dog bones on the halyard .
That said I understand your point

[TheOffice]

Because dyneema is slippery I would be careful about using a halyard hitch.

I would put chafe sleeve over the last couple of feet no matter how you attach the shackle.

[svHyLyte]

Originally Posted by Sealife74

Hi guys,

Wondering the best way to go with a main halyard splice.

Thinking of using spectra 10 mm and eye splicing a shackle permanently onto rope.

Thoughts please , how do you rig your rope halyards ?

I will probably do headsail halyards while I’m at it.

Thank you.

You might care to read through this thread on High Tech Halyard Splices before going further.

FWIW...

[roverhi]

Don't use a shackle, tie in the halyard. Have been doing so for 40 years without a problem. That includes a TransPac with exotic cored halyard. If you tie the halyards on, you can adjust the wear points by where you tie the knot and end for end the halyard to even out UV degradation. I do sew whippings on the ends so I don't core creep

[JeanneP]

I'm not sure if anyone here remembers, back in the early 90s a retired solo sailor named Mary, sailing across the Pacific in her little boat, Mighty Merry Too. She was behind us as we crossed from South America to French Polynesia, where we stayed long enough for her to catch up with us for a while.

Several times on the Ham net we heard of her losing her halyard when the knot holding the shackle to the line gave way. More than once in that 3-month crossing.

When she finally caught up with us in Papeete, I went over to her boat to visit, and to ask what her problem was with her Main halyard. She said she didn't know how to splice her line. That was something I could do, so I brought over my splicing gear and spliced her halyard to the shackle. By that time the halyard was a bit stiff from age, so I had to be very careful in my splice and whipping the splice, but it never failed in the 3 years after that.

It might have lasted longer, but we lost touch with her in 1996.

We spent 18 years wandering around on the water in our beloved Watermelon before we sold her in Singapore. None of my splices ever failed.

Knots weaken lines. Splices are stronger than the line. It's not that hard to do, with practice it doesn't take much time out of your day, and it goes a long way toward your peace of mind.

Fair winds,
J

[jt11791]

Originally Posted by Paul L

For a shackle I usually splice a loop and then luggage tag it to the shackle, making it easily removal.

That's how I do it too.

[michaelratinter]

Luggage tag it? What's that?

[Jetx]

Originally Posted by TheOffice

Because dyneema is slippery I would be careful about using a halyard hitch.

Might try an ESstar hitch instead. Evans Starzinger advertises it as the only hitch that doesn't slip in dyneema, and that's proven to be true in my limited experience using it. Basically just a buntline hitch, with the tail passed back through the center of the knot.
http://www.animatedknots.com/images/estar_hitch.gif

It can lock up hard once it's been loaded for a while though, so may have to be cut off (which shouldn't be a big deal for a halyard where you want to move/freshen the section bearing on the masthead sheave periodically anyway).

[OZwingle]

svHyLyte
Re: You might care to read through this thread on High Tech Halyard Splices before going further.

Interesting story, but we're left with a cliff-hanger...

How did the halyard fail?
What did you find was the proximate, and ultimate, causes of failure?

[Sealife74]

Thanks for the feed back everybody.
I’m going to splice

[Paul L]

Originally Posted by michaelratinter

Luggage tag it? What's that?

You know when you get a luggage tag at the airport that has a loop line on it. You stick the loop through the handle then run the tag end through the loop. Same thing with a splice.